Custer chronicle. [volume] (Custer City, Black Hills, D.T. [S.D.]) 1880-1890, 1887-07-23

Inat Detter results and more salts
factory returns are being made from
recent mining investment, proves most
conclusively the position SO long main.
tanned by those who have given most
careful consideration to the subject, that
when the history of failure, loss and
disappointment, which has marked the
progress Of the mining industry, was
carefully weighed, it will be found that
the cause was moi, as has been almost
universally charged to be attributed to
the uncertainty ofthe mines themselves,
or any lack Of real value in their pro-
auctions, and a better understanding of
the subject is gradually beginning to
place the responsibility where it Justly
belongs, and as this better knowledge
increases, mining as a productive in
dustry stands out in clearer anG more
favorable light.
Agriculture has been almost univers-
ally acknowledged as a standard of re-
liable and certain business, and the
result of years has demonstrated upon
the whole that this position has been
well maintained. Yet it is easy to
prove by careful comparison that min
ing in any one of its many branches,
conducted upon the same careful and
conservative plan, must produce infne-
tely better and more certain results.
The agriculturalist in possession of
land purchased at a reasonable price,
most favorably located in regard to
climate and market, still is subject to
various vicissitudes we which he has
no control, and against which it is
practically impossible to protect him
self.
Crops most carefully sown and tended
may be destroyed and ruined ever after
they have been harvested. In fact the
whole success depends upon a favorable
succession of a series of very unreliable
conditions which cannot be Influenced
by any possible effort. On the other
hand the product Of the mine is safe
from every possible change Of season.
Secure and indestructible, locked in the
treasure house of the ages, it waits to
be utilized by the hand Of human in
dustry.
1t will probably be proven that one
Of the chief mistakes made in mining
operations is the unreasonable price
paid in the outset for mere claims and
prospects. The unproductive and I'M
cultivated farm land is always held at
a minimum price and its improvement
in value is the natural result of it's inn
provement in productive capacity. The
same is true to some extent in every
other line Of business and there is no
good reason why mining should be an
exception to the rule. The location of
new mines is usually such that every
improvement must necessarily be made
at a large cost and this reason, if no
other, is an argument in favor of a
change in the direction indicated.
There are no doubt many other i'm
provements which might be made
which would materially reduce the ex-
pense of bringing a mine to a paying
point.
1t can readily be seer if wild and un-
titled farming land was purchased at
the rate of 81 900 an acre and every i'm
provement made at the same great
expense, that the question of profit
would be very uncertain. The best in
terest of the mining industry IF this
country demands curtailment of every
unnecessary expense and an economical
adjustment to to the strictest business
methods.-Chicago Mining Review.